Chu Zhen Dao Freestyle Martial Arts Success

The academy as it is situated 1058 Cameron Rd Tauranga and has now been running continuously for almost 2 years at its current location. Looking back to the beginning, C.Z.D’s founder Brian Twomey stopped teaching in school halls and then leased a building (Devonport Rd) Tauranga in 1993. Although this was not the first Honbu to open in Tauranga (ShotoKan-Tai Chi-Akido) all had tried running a serious facility dedicated to Martial Arts, sadly for Martial arts all of these failed.

Our success started with maintaining our NON-PROFIT stance, from then until now all instructors have been volunteers. Hollywood and the whole kickboxing craze certainly helped us along the way. Back in 1993 we were still part of B.J.C and the Zen Do Kai system, B.J.C Muay Thai was also becoming very strong thanks to the legends like Tony Renita who were doing it while the rest of us were standing around asking “what the hell is kickboxing”? The Club had many ups and downs along the way, and there have been thousands of great times and many tears shed as well.

Sempai Charlene and then Sempai Brian, spent seven days a week teaching, and looking back I think it was about 18 months before we actually got a day off. In terms of Karate, our students matched anyone in NZ, for that matter matched any of the Australian B.J.C members. On entering our first tournament we were asked what the gym name was, we didn’t have one, hence a few hours deciding on the name, which was the birth of the “Dark Angels Gym”.

The first fighter from the gym was Peter Mokomoko, who went first fight against one of Scotty Thompson’s boys, then based in Auckland. The fight night was at Lumpanui Stadium run by Sifu Robert McGinnis. Ricky Sharp was also meant to fight, but his opponent pulled out at the last minute. Peter stuck to the very basic game plan and although the hooks I asked of him were more like windmills flailing than a technical punch, he took a convincing win early in the second round. Peter (now named the Chief) Mokomoko went on to a Pro Boxing Career. Although I have lost touch with him, he will always have a fond place in my memories, and who following our philosophy, got out of fighting and went on to university and as I understand it now runs a boys home in Auckland. Ricky Sharp went on to fight under many different names but his longest running winning streak was while with the Dark Angels Gym. Other fighters along the way were the likes of Steve Pain, who was a very strong and talented young fighter, got as far as being in line for his title shot before heading towards music and touring with a band. Last I heard from Steve he was earning over $35 an hour teaching martial arts, when we taught him for $30 a month. Jimmy Mellor was without a doubt one of the greats and anyone who saw him fight will remember again was in line for his title shot when 3 times he was stiffed on the day of the fight by so called injuries…. Jimmy decided to return to school and has gone on to a successful career with the Military, much of which is classified, so that tells you how successful he is today. Most recently you have to note Luke Clark, definitely one of the “got to watch” up and coming fighters. An issue your not seeing here is a long list of fighters/title holders, what you do see is many young people, a few of which were heading into trouble, returning to school, going to university, joining the military and what ever they wanted to do. They were always encouraged from early on to look to the future, a simple fact of life is no matter how good you are, fighting is always going to be a short-term gig and we have always tried to improve the lives of our guys and girls. Speaking of which, I have got to mention Lisa Paeroa at this point, who was hell to match but always put on a hell of a good show. Another point and perhaps the most important, count the number of years we have been running, times that by the number of students who we have trained and face the fact less than 6 of my guys have ever been before the judge. Not a single one of them spent any time in custody or jail. A personal hate of mine was always knuckle heads who trained bigger knuckle heads to fight but never adjusted the attitude, and bob’s ya uncle, guess where the majority of these guys spend a fair amount of time.

The new generation of Martial artists coming through our ranks are improved and more health conscious than we were. My personal dream is that future generations never suffer the injuries we did. Martial arts is not inanimate… it is a living thing (or at least its mean’t to be) as society changes, so do the rules of engagement. As a living art we all must evolve, this is a simple fact of life. In my grandfathers day, boxing was the accepted fighting method, apart from the C.Q.B trained personally we really didn’t have a lot to do with the Martial Arts in the west, our influence was mainly European. So in dear old granddad’s day if two men in a pub had a dispute they went outside and squared off, everyone else from the bar would surround the two men who had something to settle and rules would be agreed on, and down to business. After it was over they generally shock hands and they would spend the rest of the evening buying each other drinks. The only time anyone outside the two combatants got involved was if there was a breach in the rules, then the offending person would be suitably educated. Today it’s a stupid mistake to assume your ever going to get a fair fight; even in sanctioned competition you don’t get a fair fight. Today the majority of us who spend any time in the security field will attest to the fact you deal with one problem and 9 times out of 10 you end up with more problems in the form of the problems mates! Today’s instructor has to be aware of the times we live in, multiple opponents and weapons all being common place, we must teach students first how to deal with a situation, then how to avoid making the situation worse. Drugs have for many years been making the job harder (and I include alcohol in that family) but with “P” hitting the streets at the speed (excuse the pun) this is bringing the job to an entirely new level. I have personally seen people restrained in painful holds which should have ended things right there and then but the offender seemed not to even notice they were restrained and fast as it should have ended it was all on again.

The birth of Chu Zhen Dao was an evolution, until I finally got around to breaking out on my own, which was a gradual process, there were some serious changes occurring with in B.J.C, especially Zen Do Kai. Many would say this was a positive evolution, I just didn’t see it that way, remembering back to my original black belt grading, which lasted over 3 hours and was pure hell. My Black Gi Grading which was in those days truly a blood grading and something we were both proud of and always knew we earned. Today this grading is done using pads. Yes, less injuries, harder in the respect of cardio fitness perhaps, but at the end of the day not nearly as rewarding, nor does it carry the same pride that it once did. The old Nidan grading was once, warm up and stretch, 10 minutes kata followed by 30 two minute rounds full contact, with fresh opponents jumping in every few rounds, again today focus mitts and pads have replaced this bloody grading BUT the meaning is also lost. We used to say, hopefully this Black Gi or Nidan grading were the only time students were going to be in anything near a real fight. From the confidence point of view you could say, “hey I survived that, anything I come up against in the real world will be manageable”. In Chu Zhen Dao we have evolved, the techniques have changed slightly, we are fussier about the style of every technique, BUT we haven’t removed the hard-core combat. We do offer the student the choice of options, but so far no one has elected to take the focus mitts or Thai pads option. Originally push ups were done on your knuckles, I still prefer to do them on my knuckles but in all honesty I do have arthritis and Sensei Bradley Koopmans (Evil Sensei) who runs my Brisbane Dojo, works with computers and he says “hell will freeze over before you ever get me to do push ups on my knuckles and anything else that may injure my hands. Karate is my life but it doesn’t pay my mortgage”.

Within the B.J.C system there were too many chiefs changing things (Kata) every three months or so and, due to personal growth taking me in a different direction at this time, we grew apart. To go further with Muay Thai required Sensei Brad and I go to Thailand at least once every two years, although we try to go every year, and my passport is looking healthier with eight entry stamps into Thailand in it. I have landed in Beijing and travelled from there to Gongzhou province, where I spent many amazing hours trying to figure out how to get invited into the Tai Chi groups training on the mountain every morning. My greatest sadness is I never did learn to say my Sifu’s name. He was truly an amazing man almost spiritual in demeanour. I believe in 7 months (looking back) he never did speak directly to me and translation was difficult at best. The most verbal communication we shared was him grunting at me when I did something wrong OR he just wanted my attention. It’s funny how long it took him to actually get me to throw a solid punch at him, considering he was likely in his 90’s and yet how fast I learned this was something which was ALWAYS more painful for me than it was for him. This quiet little unassuming man was truly one of the greatest people I have ever met, again let me say although physically talking was something that just didn’t happen with this man, I learned so much from him. I believe it fair to say I will spend the rest of my life trying to unravel the incredible gifts bestowed on me from this man.

Shinzhen was another great place with a couple of fond memories for me, although to be honest Hong Kong was a bit of a disappointment as I didn’t have time to find any good schools and it was so commercial. I remember thinking if one more person asks me if I want to buy an “imitation watch or if I wanted a tailor”, there would be hands thrown in the street. Having never been one to stay on the beaten track I often found myself in dodgy situations and meeting colourful, interesting people. At a bar that looked like a seriously run down “dance bar” my good friend “Sunny” introduced me to some men (Danny the boss) who he thought I may like to do some importing/exporting business with. Honestly in China 2002 there was the secret knock on the wall followed by standing in front of a mirror where this white boy was quite surprised to see the wall open. Inside was a palatial room decked out fit for royalty. I was offered a menu with about 15 Coffee’s on it, a variety of drinks and food none of which I could identify. After accepting the kind offer of coffee, declining the food (something you shouldn’t do, because in most of Asia a refusal is an insult) I was then asked if I wanted the waitress….. (Again I declined). The Business before anyone informs the Police or Customs was the rag trade, this man could produce clothing, and I mean copy anything you wanted at an incredible low price. Today I am still in touch with Sunny and Danny and they are interesting friends, however doing business with them is something I haven’t ever explored. Another shocking aspect of Asia is the poverty and all that goes with it. Thailand has so many maimed beggars and it doesn’t take long to work out they move in cycles. One trip you see burned beggars next time they’re all deformed from broken bones that were never set last trip. I equate this to any main street in NZ. I saw no less that 20 sets or men in pairs, both with their eyeballs plucked out and empty sockets staring back at you.

Freestyle Karate is always going to be the base backbone of the system. Having said that, Muay Thai will always be my first love of full contact competition. Dai Sempai Ray will be continuing his love of submission fighting and will work closely with me in the future to bring out U.F.C styled competitors. Although getting older and banged up this is one area where I have no interest as such anymore (at a personal level anyway). Amateur boxing coach Steve Pickard, of Western Bay Boxing is a valuable member of the team and although boxing not being my personal way it has certainly proved to be very popular with the students. Steve and wife Leigh bring a wealth of experience to the table and aside from the great fighters produced by Steve; we must note Leigh is the second woman boxing referee in gods own.

Our facility is without a doubt the best equipped martial arts gym I have ever seen (excluding those set up inside commercial gyms). We are exclusive to the fighting arts and although we do have some fitness equipment this is not what we are about. The Philippine Martial Arts is another direction, which is being phased in with greater demand for stick and knife fighting systems. There are other things planned which we will keep to ourselves for now, but suffice to say we are not stagnating and will continue to be as we always have, leaders in the Martial Arts competing and non competing students training together, frequent pure street styled self defence courses and one of the simplest and as such most effective, anti rape courses available anywhere.

Trainers and fighters interested in competing at Bash at the Beach 2004 on May15th and November 20th should call the club secretary at the listed contact number below.

BRIAN TWOMEY
Chu Zhen Dao – Founder